Paving the Way for Faster Access to Power
Irene Danti Lopez is EPRI senior team lead.
Rapid growth in artificial intelligence, cloud computing, electrification, and advanced manufacturing is driving growth in electricity demand faster than new infrastructure can be developed to meet it. In many regions, access to power — rather than capital, land, or technology — has become the primary constraint on the deployment of large loads.
As regulators, utilities, and system operators grapple with this challenge, one powerful opportunity for data centers is becoming increasingly clear: large load flexibility. Modern data centers, as well as other large loads, can be designed and operated to support grid reliability, manage congestion, and provide support during periods of system stress. Despite this technical potential, leveraging flexibility capabilities to accelerate time to power has been challenging in practice.
The reason is not technology. It is language.
The Flexibility Gap in Today’s Interconnection Process
Today, large loads lack clear signals regarding which flexibility capabilities are most valuable to the grid during their design process. Additionally, flexibility may mean different things in different regions: requirements vary by utility, market, and jurisdiction. Without common definitions or performance expectations, developers can struggle to design facilities that align with grid needs, making it difficult to plan for flexibility.